Tag Archives: talking points

Don’t characterize all Hispanics as undocumented and all undocumented as Hispanics

Karl Rove has developed a dos and donts memo for his Republican buddies when they get to talking about immigration. [OK, its the Hispanic Leadership Network, but who wrote it?] The fact that they have to develop something like this is quite funny, but I’ll admit having to correct some of our own right-wing Dems who have used negative terminology to get a vote. In fact, it may need to get to these Dems, too, since some of them who voted against the DREAM Act a few years ago tend to sound like Republicans.

I will give Rove some credit, since he’s tried to warn people on how negative stuff will hurt their Party. Still, playing semantics with people in order to appease them doesn’t usually work, since we already know how they really feel. Ultimately, if they want to make up for the crap they’ve tossed at Latinos and immigrants, they need to just vote for sensible immigration reform.

Here are a few:

When engaging in conversation or doing an interview on immigration reform:Do acknowledge that “Our current immigration system is broken and we need to fix it”Don’t begin with “We are against amnesty”

Note: Most everyone is against amnesty and this is interpreted as being against any reform.

The one in which Karl seems to call them out as dumbasses is this one.

Don’t use President Reagan’s immigration reform as an example applicable todayNote: That legislation was true amnesty; in addition, border security, fixing our visa system, and a temporary worker program were parts of the reform which were never implemented.

Of course, leave it to Rove to blame again, as they try to blame the entire failure of 1st term immigration reform on President Obama. The reality is when the DREAM Act came up, ZERO Republicans supported it. And when President Obama offered up DACA, Mitt Romney’s “immigration advisor” found some Border Patrol agents willing to sue to stop it. So, holster that finger, Karl! There’s enough blame to go around!

Well, at the very least, the White House and Democratic response to the Republican vitriol can be, “Didn’t you get Karl Rove’s Memo?”